INTRODUCTION. THE desire of preserving from oblivion some literary productions, which may possibly interest, if not instruct, a certain class of thoughtful readers, has supplied the motive for the present publication. Among the number, some few relate to political events of which the public have ceased to take account. Nevertheless, it is no unprofitable task to recal attention to a bygone condition of things, wherein the germ of actual results may be discerned. To compare the past with the present, and to trace the inexorable connexion of cause and effect, is always an occupation becoming a reflecting mind. And I will venture to observe that, vain as may be the attempt to foreshadow the course of political events in these days of surprises, I am confirmed in my views of the probable prospective changes in the position of the "Eastern question," by all that is now going forward in countries more or less subject to Ottoman rule. As to the opinions, political, economic, and social, |